Next Door Nuisances
by ZahlzStar
Summary: Amy Raudenfeld's summer was interesting, she made friends with the new kid next door, Liam Booker. It was all well and good for the time being but summer is over and now her mom wants Amy to show Liam around Hester. Amy expects a few school tours, she didn't expect for the girl she has had her eye on to catch her new friend's eye as well.
1. Chapter 1

"No," It seems like the fiftieth time that I've said the words but it doesn't seem to be having to desired effect.

"Amy," My mother chastises in her polite, three seconds away from bringing the wrath of Satan down upon you, tone of voice.

"Mom," My tone is significantly more exasperated than hers.

"Liam is a nice boy, and you two got along so well over the summer. I don't know why you are being so difficult about this," Mom justifies and I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"He moved in next door, I was trying to be nice so I hung out with him. Just because I befriended and continued to tolerate him, doesn't mean I want us to be joined at the hip."

"You are his only friend Amy; all I'm asking is that you help him out on his first day," Mom is still using that tone but I'm not ready to give up just yet.

"It's Hester, Liam will probably take one step into school and people will smell the fresh meat, he'll be rolling in friends in no time,"

"Amy,"

"Yes Mother, that is the name stated on my birth certificate," I respond dryly but she just shoots me an unappreciative look.

"Why don't you just ask Lauren?" I ask, gesturing towards the 5'0 bundle of evil inspecting her nails at the kitchen table.

"I love Lauren to bits, but she isn't always the friendliest person. Especially not to Liam after the Wonka incident," Mom replies and when Lauren arches an eyebrow at her she gives her an apologetic look

"Oh for the love of God, fine, I'll show Liam around. One day, one day and then he is on his own," My tone is firm but my mother smiles in victory.

"Thank you Amy, now go get ready or you're going to be late for school,"

"She is ready," Lauren scoffs from her seat and I look at my mom.

"But thanks for the ego boost," I reply in a sarcastic tone but before Mom has a chance to respond I start towards Liam's house next door.

Unsurprisingly, Liam's parents aren't home and I open the front door before heading up the stairs to Liam's room.

"Yo Booker, it's time for your guide to surviving high school, Hester edition," I yell out after banging on his door a few times and swinging the door open.

Liam pokes his head out from his bathroom door with his toothbrush in his mouth and I take a seat on his bed after he ducks back into the bathroom. About thirty seconds later Liam emerges from his bathroom, tugging a t-shirt down over his head and searching around. Before long Liam finds his wallet and keys and tucks them into the back pocket of his jeans before scooping up his backpack and turning towards me.

"Do I look okay?" He seems genuinely concerned and I simply nod my head in approval.

"I'm kinda nervous, what if people don't like me?"

"Hester is a big place, statistically speaking, there has to be at least one person that will like you. Besides, worst case scenario you can be buddy buddy with Satan's Mistress,"

"Hey, it's not my fault Lauren doesn't like me," Liam responds.

"You played songs from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack every time you two were in a room together," I point out and Liam shoots me a look.

"Oh come on, that was funny," Liam retorts and I can't help but agree with him.

"We have to go or we are going to be late," I tell him after and he nods before grabbing his phone from the nightstand and heading out.

It only takes about ten minutes before we step out of Liam's car and look over at everyone roaming around the place.

"Did you print of your class schedule like I told you to?" I ask and Liam gives me a weak smile.

"Um about that," Liam begins and I roll my eyes before pulling a printed copy of his schedule out of my bag.

"Here you go idiot, I knew you wouldn't remember,"

"You're the best Amy," Liam says after taking the paper from me.

"I get that a lot," I respond with a roll of my eyes.

"Do I have any classes with you?" Liam asks and hands his schedule over to me.

"Yeah, I'm in most of your classes, I have a free period when you have Art though," I tell him after scanning the paper in my hand and returning it to him.

"Okay awesome, what class is first?"

"I've got AP English; but you have regular English, so we'll have to find somewhat in that class to show you the ropes,"

"Okay, do you know anyone that can help me out?" Liam asks and I think about it for a second.

"Oh wait, I think Shane Harvey is in that class, I'll introduce you guys if we can find him," I respond and Liam nods his head in agreement.

"Just look for a large group of people, Shane is likely to be inside of it,"

After a little bit of searching we do indeed find a large group of people, and we head over towards the growing mass. I spot Oliver near a gap in the circle and I walk up beside him, "A little early in the morning for a protest isn't it?"

"It's Hester; it's never too early for a protest. But no, Shane is just being his usual eccentric self and inviting everybody to his back to school party this weekend," Oliver explains and I sigh.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Are we even capable of being surprised anymore?" Oliver asks and catches sight of Liam a second or two later.

"Who's this?"

"This is Liam, he moved in next door over the summer and I'm showing him around," I explain adn Oliver offers Liam his hand.

"Hey, I'm Oliver,"

"Liam, it's nice to meet you,"

"Oliver, you are in my English class aren't you?" I ask once the two are acquainted.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Liam is in the other class but I have things I need to do and won't have time to show him where is class is," I respond and Oliver nods in understanding.

"I actually have a few errands I need to run before class and I'll be heading in that direction, I could probably show him where it is if you'd like?" Oliver suggests and I send Liam a questioning look to which he shrugs his shoulders.

"Yeah, that'd be great Oliver," I reply with a smile and Oliver adjusts his glasses before responding,

"It's not a problem at all, I'll probably have to be going shortly though,"

"I'm sure that will be fine, won't it Liam?" i ask over my shoulder but when Liam doesn't respond I turn around to look at him.

"Who is that?" Liam asks, in a dazed voice.

I turn to see who he is looking at and I stop suddenly, _Oh shit._

"That, is Karma Ashcroft,"

_**Hey guys, new story. I don't really know where this is gonna go but I hope to upload it with a few other updates so if it is sucky at least that might make up for it. I'm seeing a little more Liam hate at the moment and decided to write something that will hopefully make people like Liam a little bit more. Anywho, Enjoy. -Zahli **_


	2. Chapter 2

*Liam's POV*

"And that, is not happening," Amy continues and I pull my eyes away from the beautiful brunette that had captured my gaze.

"What do you mean?" I ask but I see that Amy isn't looking at me; her eyes are locked on Karma's. It doesn't take an idiot to see that there is an unspoken connection between the two. A mixture of guilt and longing pass between them and as Karma breaks their gaze and heads around a corner Amy releases a breath and turns back to me.

"Is she yours?" I ask in a sincere tone and Amy's eyes dim a little.

"She almost was, but I blew it," Amy responds in a quiet voice and I nod in understanding.

"Okay, Karma Ashcroft is off limits. Got it," I conclude and Amy looks at me in surprise.

"Wait, really? Just like that?" Amy's tone is incredulous and I just nod in an exaggerated motion.

Amy still looks sceptical so I sigh and explain, "You are the only friend I've got in this place, Amy. You clearly want to be with Karma so I'll respect that. Anything else would be a total dick move, and I'm not a dick."

"Thank you Liam," Amy is sincere and it leads me to wonder if she really thought I would do something like that to her.

"But, I do hate lying. If something does happen between you two I want you to know that you won't have to lie to me about it," I continue and Amy nods in understanding.

"We're good then, let's go talk to Shane," Amy concludes and I follow after her.

"Yo Shane, I've got someone I'd like you to meet," Amy hollers and a boy with dark hair turns to greet her.

"Amy, how have you been?" Shane has a small smirk on his face but I'm pretty sure it's just a general expression of his.

"I've been good, Shane, meet Liam," Amy gestures to me and I give Shane a smile.

"Thanks for the effort but he's a bit too boy-next-door, not really my type," Shane waves his hand as if to send me off on my way after giving me a quick once over.

"Not that sort of meet Shane, Liam just moved in next door and so I'm showing him around. He's in most of my classes but there are a few that he has with you, I was hoping you could help him out when I'm not around," Amy explains and Shane looks me over once again.

"Well in that case I'm happy to help, I can even give him a tour and show him to his classes if you'd like?" Shane offers but Amy shakes her head.

"Oliver already offered to take him to his first class and I can give him the tour but if you could give him a hand in class, maybe even a rundown of the inner workings," Amy responds and Shane's eyes light up at the prospect of a Mean Girls cafeteria style intro to Hester.

"Not a problem, I'll save him a seat in English," Shane replies with a smile.

"Thanks Shane, you're awesome," Amy says and Shane gives an exaggerated bow.

A moment or two later Oliver steps up besides us, "I have to head out now Amy, and if Liam is ready I can show him to his class,"

"Thanks Oliver," Amy thanks the boy and he turns to me.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I respond and we say our goodbyes to Amy and Shane before heading towards what I imagine is my classroom.

After a rather boring English lesson Shane points the way to the Art Room and I'm able to relax and lose myself in all the potential pieces I could create. My time is the Art Room seems to be over in an instant and with a parting glance behind me I head out only to collide with someone, out of instinct I reach out to catch the person I bumped into and find myself holding onto the person I swore not to touch just this morning. With this realisation I let go of Karma so fast she sways on her feet a little bit and I have to restrain myself from reaching out to steady her once again.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there," Karma apologizes and her voice alone makes me want to be holding her again.

"It's fine, Karma right?" I respond.

"Yeah, what goes around comes around and all that," Karma rambles and looks up when I don't reply.

"Wait, you meant my name; of course you did. Wait, how do you know my name?" She asks, genuinely puzzled.

"Oh right, I probably sound like a creeper; Amy told me your name," I explain and the smile on her face fades.

"Amy told you about me?" Karma asks in a quiet voice and I curse myself for mentioning Amy since it seems to be a sensitive topic.

"Uh yeah, I moved in next door to Amy this summer and she's the closest thing I have to a friend; she's been showing me around and she mentioned your name when we saw you on the quad,"

Karma nods slightly at my explanation but she looks uncomfortable all of a sudden, "I should probably be going," Karma excuses herself politely and is gone before I can really register what happened.

Before I really have a chance to ponder I see Amy walking towards me with an overly excited looking Shane at her side.

"How were your classes?" Amy asks when she reaches me but Shane cuts in before I can respond.

"Pfff, who cares about classes? Amy agreed to come to my party this weekend, are you down?"

"Uhhh," I begin and I see Amy giving me a 'save yourself' sort of look but I look back at Shane who is now wearing a pleading puppy dog expression, "Sure, why not? It'll give me a chance to make some friends that aren't my neighbour,"

"Yay, this is going to be great, you'll see," Shane all but jumps in the air in his excitement, meanwhile Amy simply rolls her eyes at his antics.

"Now let's go eat, I'm starving," Shane concludes and turns on his heel. I shake my head and smile, Shane seems to be the type of person with the attention span of a small child.

While Shane has been talking almost the entire time we have been seated Amy has been rather quiet and every now and then I see her looking into the distance. It takes me a little while to see who she is looking at but then I see Karma seated across the quad, and every now and then her gaze meets Amy's and strangely enough it jumps between Amy and I just as frequently. I can already tell this girl is going to be trouble and I'm hoping that I can honour my promise to Amy, despite how tempting Karma Ashcroft appears.

_**Hey guys, it's been ages since I updated, I just haven't really decided to sit down and write anything recently. I'm not really sure where exactly this story is going to go but I hope you guys don't hate it too much. Anywho, enjoy. -Zahli**_


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